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Friday, July 15, 2011

Virtual Garden Tour - Carey in Queens

The following urban oasis comes by way of Carey at Serving Gaia who is beginning a weekend tour of the big city. We'll be visiting a few boroughs of the Big Apple. I'm going to apologize right up front, because all of the photographs were dropped to the end of the email that brought this lovely post to me, so I'm guessing on many of them. I think I got the really important ones correct :-)

We live in a 60 unit, co-operative apartment building built in the 1930's. Weare located in the Borough of Queens, NY and while is not as congested asManhattan, it is more or less a concrete jungle of roads, sidewalks, storefrontsand apartment buildings. We are very fortunate however that our neighborhoodborders on a very affluent part of Queens in which hundred year old trees stillflourish. Our neighborhood is blessed with tree-lined streets for the mostpart. When we bought our place 4 years ago, the building had a professionallandscape service, but to my absolute delight, the Co-op Board gave me theirblessing to plant some Hostas which I'd saved from the garden I'd left behind.Little by little, the soothing lush green of the Hostas paved the way for addingLillies, which in turn cleared a path to my adding one red rose bush. Ireligiously buried all our kitchen scraps in the soil to feed the earthworms,added bags of topsoil and encouraged life to return to the hardened, depletedearth. By the 2nd year the Board had made me a committee and the four of usconvinced the Board that we could create a lovelier garden and save them money($3,000 a year!) if they'd let us take over all the garden work. We've neverlooked back and it has been an amazing lesson in community building to create agarden of beauty that is "shared." As a group we were able to courageouslyremove (with respect) enormous 6 ft x 5 ft. diameter Yew hedges which werebecoming solid table-like masses in the sunniest places. There were certainlysome treasures already present which have been delights to assist in reclaimtheir sovereignty - the hemlocks which guard the front corners of the building,the weeping cherry front and center, our Gentle and magnificent Elm, a WhitePine, Forsythia and giant Rhododendrons. Together, the gardening committee madetough decisions about cutting back some of the established shrub plants andre-arranging others. We then worked our muscles digging up and re-locatingenormous and gorgeous boulders to provide stability to the budding gardenspaces. Our committee consists of one young married couple, my 11 year oldson, and myself and each has their own unique gifts to add. In addition, myHusband also helps and one gentleman from the building often assists in theforsythia pruning by being my "eyes" and because I honestly have not yetmastered the fine art of pruning. The youngest children in our building haveadded their own sunniness and cheer by walking the paths, nibbling mint andshowing their friends the herbs they know and love. Recently, I discovered thejoy and satisfaction to midwife to others garden dreams by adding plants whichothers in the building have requested, finding how to weave them into thetapestry of our gardens and to my delight and surprise realized the garden wasall the better for including everyone's ideas and wishes. The beauty lies inthe magic of this unlikely garden alchemy.

On to the tour!

This is the front entrance. That "Beanstalk" is a Dahlia but there isn't enoughsun here so it may not bloom the other beanstalk is the giant Oriental lily.The rose, which is a peach is flanked by two small lavender plants..see belowfor a little close-up. The Hosta shown is one of the three Grandmothers of the garden. Our Dragon stone which protects our building. (I believe he doesn't mind that we peeked into his lair.)

A close-up of the ferns and Sweet Woodruff which grow at the feet of two of ourGrandmother Hostas. There is also some wild ginger which you can just make outon the far left.

view of the left side of the building's entrance. The third Grandmother Hosta.

Birdy paradise with the lilies underneath and weeping cherry above.This is the main bed which runs along the sunniest part of the front of thebuilding. This is home to most of my medicinals.

Here is another view of the main rose and herb bed. I am always amazed thatthis little bed, which has only a few hours of direct sun each day can produceflowers.

The Mints, the High Malva (which has already been cut back) and mostherbs do quite well, except for the Yarrow which is just pleading with me formore sunshine. Hidden in here are Plantain, Pineapple Sage (which you can seejust below the lilies) Anise Hyssop, Hyssop, and Skullcap.Hidden amongst the roses are some transplanted chickweed which I finally found this spring after they had left my garden and taken up home on the neighboring property. Needless to say, Chickweed was completely under appreciated over there. Also hiddenbeneath the roses are some cleavers. Here is the same bed a week later. These pictures were taken at the second rosebloom of this year.This is a view of the same bed, but from behind so you can see the newly addedComfrey...I am certain I will need to move something because as we all know,Comfrey will be Queen.Heritage Rose, mmmmmmm. My treasure.Another favorite Rose, Julia Child. Spicy rosy fragrance.The complexly forthright, gentle and miraculously sleek and lovely Blue Vervianblossom!

Shrub Potentilla...I love their fingered leaves.This is how I compost here, using my Mother's method, by digging deep holes andburying my kitchen scraps beneath 5 inches of soil. Works best and fastest ifthey are frozen first. This way we don't attract rats. eek!Switching sides....

This view is looking at the right side of the front of the building. This sideis blessed by this enormous Elm tree which provides delicious shade, beauty andhomes for wildlife, but also makes the buildings desire for a uniform hedgeborder difficult to meet.

The hedge (ha! I like to call it a hedgerow for funand I've snuck in some rosa Rugosa on the other side...) is more spindly than onthe other side of the building. We've worked into the front two shade beds thisyear with Helleborus, Dicentra and Astilbe. More to come!

I love rocks with plants.

And now for my, er, our secret wild garden. I spend a lot of time and energy"defending and nurturing" this space, for it is a wild haven, rare and preciousin this land of manicured landscaping. It may not look like much, but it isprobably the garden I love the most. Here is where the fireflies start theirtwinkly matchmaking at 8:09 on summer evenings. Here is where the cricketsserenade their future lovers and create what is for me the most welcoming,lovely outside music ever. The Norway Maples surround and protect uscity-dwellers with their cooling, peaceful canopies, giving us a quiet respitefrom the summer heats, and providing the squirrels with homes. The unexpected goes on back here and the people walking past, down the "alley", choose this way, I believe because they are replenished by it's peace, and "rightness."

Cardinal and Squirrel feeder with leaf compost area in background.View out to the street from feeder.The moss which blankets the earth here is a little dried out at the moment. There is a little saucer water bath in the moss there beneath the feeder, but I didn't get it in the photo. The pigeons like to drink out of it, preen their feathers, and then they all lie there, resting on the soft moss for a period of time each day. Just resting. It's brought us to wonder, "Where do Pigeons ever get a fresh drink or a cool, green place torest?"

Here I am working on the leaf compost, but it is a good view of the alley....complete with graffiti! (see photo below!) Also seen are the two sister Maples which I always sense guard us. There are a few species of plant which I haven't yet been able to identify, but they thrive back here in the shade. Our first Violet sprouted up back here and she has become the mother to a Violet nursery. We've added some native honeysuckle with hopes that it will grow along the chain link fence, adding beauty, and attracting birds and butterflies.(Ha! Here's a close-up of "Hippie!" Sometimes I wonder if they meant me? and isit a good thing? I like to think so....:-))

I had to really work at my diplomacy, persuasiveness and tact to convince themanagement company that these leaves which fall from the trees are gold and thatwe need them. "The leaves look so messy!" Everyone sees sense after a while.:-) Our beloved Super and his wife cleared and collected them from the front ofthe building for me and put them into bags so I could create this. My dreamfor the entire back area is to bring it back to health and vitality. The soilis very eroded from years of leaf blowers and rains, but the moss is doing herbest to protect the remaining soil which is nutrient stripped, compact androot-bound. I hope to add soil and gradually lots of compost, but it is a hugespace which goes around the entire perimeter of our building. Baby steps andpatience are learned here.

Hidden tiny chimes hopefully send their delicate tinkling carries a gentlereminder of the magic that exists to our neighbors.

Rosa species but I'm not sure which one...only a few pale pink treasured bloomsand a light delicate fragrance. This happens to grow right out our bedroomwindow, another protective plant friend right at the corner. (Rose is the Stateflower of new York!)While this may not be my dream garden with nothing but endless sky above roses,lavender and other medicinal herbs, I am finding that each and every part of itis something I treasure deeply. Not only by me but by the people who live hereand around us. People tell me they go out of their way just to walk by ourbuilding. My heart just leaps when people say things like this. I've heard somany heartfelt stories from people in the neighborhood about family gardens,grandmothers, favorite uncles and their roses, and gardens in homes fromcountries they've left to come here to America. The whole thing would seem sounlikely - the very fact that in this manicured part of Queens, I am able to bethe keeper of a slightly rumpled herb and flower garden. Despite our veryurban, stressed and densely populated area, we've only had two instances oftheft/vandalism. Our building is situated right off of Queens Boulevard, whichis a four lane race track that runs right through the heart of Queens. Buthere, just a building away, we have raccoons, opossum, a family each of blackand grey squirrels (sharing the feeder at that!), Blackbirds, Finch, families ofMourning Doves, Sparrows, Cardinals and Nuthatch! These friends must migrateover here from our neighboring Forest Park. The crickets and fireflies havetripled since we've begun this gardening journey 4 years ago. I like tobelieve that our gardening and wilding efforts are showing these other sons anddaughters of Gaia that we humans can share, and that we do care.